WIRES conference to kick off international networking and research

Robert Nesmith
Communications & Marketing

The Center for the Study of Women, Science and Technology (WST) will extend into the international arena with its Women’s International Research Engineering Summit (WIRES), to be held June 2–4 in Barcelona.

The Summit is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the European Science Foundation, Hewlett Packard, and other foundations and corporations.

	Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering Associate Professor Mary Lynn Realff (from left), Public Policy Professor Mary Frank Fox and Literature, Communication and Culture Professor Carol Colatrella organized the Women’s International Research Engineering Summit, June 2–4, in Barcelona.

WIRES will serve as both a conduit for the enhancement of international collaboration and as a research vehicle, according to principal investigator Mary Lynn Realff, associate professor in Polymer, Textile, and Fiber Engineering. “[With most conferences], the focus is on technology exchange for the attendees, and networking is a bonus,” she said. “This conference reverses this. The focus is on constructing teams and means for collaboration. Technology exchange is a plus.”

Three major research areas will be the focus of the agenda: energy systems, micro/nanotechnology and simulation-based engineering. Poster presentations will list attendees’ affiliations, their areas of expertise, the results of research projects, types of research partners with whom attendees are interested in working, and descriptions of research equipment and lab space to which attendees have access.

Attendees, selected by the Summit committee, consist of roughly 50 percent associate professors, 10 percent full professors and approximately 25 percent assistant professors, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Realff says that 100 attendees—50 U.S. participants and 50 from other countries—were selected from 300 inquiries.

“Most will be associate professors who have shown a readiness for international research collaboration,” she said. “Full professors will serve as role models.” Roughly 15 attendees will be from industry. More than 25 different countries are involved, with attendees coming from Europe, Australia, Africa, and South America.

According to Public Policy Professor Mary Frank Fox, the research aim of the Summit is to examine barriers to international collaboration and global issues of gender equity for engineering professors in the United States and internationally. Realff is the principal investigator for the Summit, with Literature, Communication and Culture Professor Carol Colatrella and Fox serving as co-principal investigators and research directors.

The WIRES PI and co-PIs asked attendees how they perceive research, collaboration, and gender equity in their institutions. Colatrella says there have been international studies on women scientists, but very little in regards to engineering. “We’re testing the hypothesis that international collaboration contributes to advancement,” she says. “There’s not much research on this.”

She said applicants and those not selected to attend filled out a survey measuring their views on collaboration and on gender equity prior to selection. At the Summit, Fox will present the first-level research results on barriers to international collaboration and on gender equity issues.

“[We’re looking to see if there] are central tendencies or commonalities both in and outside the U.S.,” said Fox, who adds that an interview component will follow-up the survey and conference. The basic results, she says, will be posted on the WIRES Web site, and then published in subsequent versions.

Realff says the project examines international collaboration as a contributing factor for gaining full professor status in the United States. “Professors are told they should have international recognition,” she said.

The WIRES team submitted the grant proposal to the NSF about a year and a half ago. NSF is funding project management and providing travel for research participants from the United States, while Hewlett-Packard is providing the conference site in Barcelona. Johnson & Johnson has also contributed, as has the local council for science and technology in Barcelona.

In addition to contributions from these organizations and the European Science Foundation, WIRES has received support from the European Platform of Women Scientists, the European Commission, the Natural Sciences Foundation of China, Tech and the University of California system. Several Tech students worked on developing the Summit; WST graduate partners Irina Nikiforova, Monica Meng, and Lisa Linhardt assisted with WIRES research.

WIRES has grown out of the team’s previous collaborations. Fox and Realff were co-PIs on the Georgia Tech NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Program, for which Realff and Colatrella successively served as director. WIRES results will complement Fox’s ADVANCE research, also a model for Colatrella’s recent Fulbright research regarding faculty working conditions and work-life balance in Denmark. “Advancement [for women in academia] is still an issue, even with the family-friendly policies in Europe,” Colatrella said.

WST was founded in 1998-99 and continues as a collaboration connecting the work of the three co-directors. Fox has been researching gender, science and technology for 35 years, Colatrella has taught gender courses and researched gender issues since joining Tech in 1993; and Realff has worked during the past decade on leadership and gender equity initiatives of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the NSF.

WST focuses on research, faculty advancement and partnerships between students and faculty. According to Fox, all three components are present in the WIRES initiative. “When created, the WST maintained a local focus,” she said. “Then we moved it to a national focus, and now we are expanding internationally.”

WST also offered the first living-learning community on campus in 2000. “Today we have a community of about 52 people,” Colatrella said. And, Fox adds, WST was the first to underwrite undergraduate research partnerships with faculty at Tech.

WST operates under the Office of the Provost, reporting to Vice Provost for Academic Diversity Gilda Barabino. “We greatly value the help and input from Dr. Barabino and Andy Smith [senior vice provost for Academic Affairs],” Fox said.